The purpose of
The Best Part of Today
is to show that there is always something good about every day.
Check back every weekday
for your daily dose of positivity.


Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy Generic Annual Celebration!

The Best Part of Today #53:
Watching James play Pokemon.

Well we also made pumpkin cookies (and photographically documented it, much to James' chagrin.) And Bob aka. Cookie aka Alexandra Snavely was there too. And now we're watching Hot Fuzz. FASCIST!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

In the Belly of the Beast...



The Best Part of Today #52:
Being eaten by a Dinosaur!

That's right folks, after entering through the mouth and going through the throat at a slow crawl, I spent a considerable amount of time in the belly of a stegosaurus today. One made of snow that is. This prehistoric ice monster is longer than and about half as high, with several tunnels through its cavernous belly. It's one my family's better achievements over the holidays.

Take a look!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

SNOW! (there's some in Speed Racer too)

The Best Part of Today #51:
Playing in the Snow!!!

Even though some more shoveling was still involved, today's other snow related activities were for the most part extremely fun. For one thing, the piles of snow that we shoveled turned into a mini sledding hill and the body of a huge stegosaurus. We went sledding at a golf course, which was perfectly hilly, and then engaged in the building of snow forts with our sleds. We utilized those forts in an fantastic snowball fight, followed by some more sledding.

And then we watched Speed Racer. SO it was pretty much the best day ever.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

READ BOOKS

The Best Part of Today #50 Part 2:
So much reading.

I began two new books today, and realized how much I have been reading since I got home for the holidays. With no school or work or other obligations to tend to besides social ones, I have been able to read books of my choosing to my hearts content. I had finished Mockingjay, the last book of the The Hunger Games Trilogy, in the wee hours of yesterday morning. I kept telling myself I would stop and go to bed when I finished the next chapter but they were always cliffhangers! I had to keep going, and before I knew it, it was 4am and I had finished the book. Then when Greg gave me the Halo novels yesterday, I started one this morning, after we got back from the "Halo Hang" that went past midnight (earlier than the one over the summer). Then I had a hankering for my new Artemis Fowl novel, The Atlantis Complex, which I have been reading for the latter half of the day, only stopping to post this.

In honor of the Fiftieth Post, celebrating (more or less) 50 great things, I have decided to include another great thing: a list of 10 fantastic books (or book series; Like the Lay's potato chip slogan "Betcha can't eat just one," I can't imagine that you wouldn't continue to read the rest of the installments after only tasting the first.) This is also continuing the trend of providing things for you to do over your break ^_^

  • The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins: I recommend this with some hesitation, but not at all because of the quality (which is more than remarkable.) Rather, it is more of a warning. Maybe it's just me and my weakness for superbly crafted novels, but I became so entwined in the fictional lives of the characters that I was sobbing at the end of the series.
  • The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis: Many of you may be fans of the popular film series, but regardless of if you are or not, you should read the original books. This whimsical, fun, and yet poignant and piercing tales are written eloquently and accessibly, a wonderful addition to anyone's enjoyment of fantasy.
  • Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde: As a lover of color, I adored this book about a surreal world that is regulated by what colors you can see. The levels in the spectrum make up the strata of the aristocracy, with the regal purple perceivers holding sway of society, and the lowly greys skirting the bottom edge of the population. This cleverly wrought piece of work creates a mysterious, fantastical, yet almost disturbingly realistic world that is of the utmost pleasure to experience. (Because, after all, it is in fiction where the truths of reality disguised by the cloak of fantasy can stare you unashamedly in the eyes.)
  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: This beautifully crafted novel, much along the same vein of Mockingjay, is a very emotional experience, given even more power and authority by being set in the very real Molching, Germany, at the height of the Third Reich. The narrative is given a unique flavor from the viewpoint of Death, personified, a bluntly honest narrator who follows a young girl's hunger for reading. One of my favorite books,The Eyre Affair, was once described as "a love letter to books" which I think is a most apt description for this novel as well. If you have a passion for books, you will love this one.
  • The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick: This veritable work of art is like a picture book for grownups. It's composed of more or less half text and half pencil drawings of such beautiful detail it makes you want to cry. The story is bold and surprising, driven by a historical background given color by artistic license.
  • Little Brother by Cory Doctorow: A fun read for all the gamers and conspiracy theorists out there. It always amazes me how much fiction can do with a setting like reality, but Doctorow doesn't disappoint. It's sort of like 1984 updated for teenagers and the blossoming youth culture therein. Fast-paced and fun but with a continuous thread of mystery, this modern adventure will question your loyalties and force you to question your beliefs.
  • The Princess Bride by William Goldman: I love many books, and this is not my all time favorite, but I have never enjoyed myself more over the course of a single novel. I absolutely adored every word this light-hearted read, but it is not to be taken lightly. This novel is one of the most finely crafted, stand-alone fantasies I have read in a long time. I have always loved the slightly cheesy movie, but to say that the novel far surpasses the movie (even more than in Harry Potter's case) is an unforgivably gross understatement.
  • Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman: This thrilling adventure is primarily set in not so much an alternate reality as an additional one. Like the muggle world and the magical world of Harry Potter, this novel creates a world that exists beneath modern, real-life London, unbeknownst to the average citizen. It plucks one of the most average specimens possible ("Richard") and plops him directly into a world he is utterly unprepared to survive in. Gaiman shares Fforde's talent to take ordinary places and things and give them new meaning.
  • The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud: I like this series because it serves as a reminder that Harry Potter isn't the only good quality book series with magic at its core. Far from being at all similar to the Rowling's, Stroud's brand of magic is refreshingly idiosyncratic. The powers of the warlocks in the Bartimaeus Trilogy rests in their ability to summon and control all manners of demons from an elusive, intangible otherworld. The story is told through the perspective of bitingly funny djinn, Bartimaeus, who periodically interrupts his own narration with additional footnotes directed right at the reader in an enjoyable breaking-the-fourth-wall sort of way. An extremely engaging read for magic lovers with a sense of humor.
  • Airman by Eoin Colfer: Though I enjoy the Artemis Fowl series (as I implied earlier, having started the newest installment today) I might actually like this standalone work better than any one of Fowl books. It is set in a sort of quasi-realistic victorian world with steampunky elements on the Saltee Islands, off the coast from the Irish town of Kilmore. Focusing on the era's obssession with gaining the power of flight, this book is unlike any I have read and well-worth the chance.

Fiftieth Post Extravaganza!

Seeing as I posted on both Saturday AND Sunday, when I normally do neither, I think I could be excused for missing yesterday. Even if it would have been the special fiftieth post, but that just means combining yesterdays with todays will make special number 50 even beefier. So beefy, in fact, I'm putting it in two posts. Let's begin with:

The Best Part of Today [Monday] #50:
So much Halo.

Yesterday was fun because my sister Sara's boyfriend Greg came to stay at our house for the night for a special Halo-playing extravaganza organized by himself and some friends. We also exchanged our post-Christmas gifts: I gave him a remote control Warthog (a jeep-like vehicle from the Halo games) and he gave me a trilogy of Halo novels. Then we all had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings before going to play Halo: Reach on two huge screens with 8+ people (and some Call of Duty, which I like less than Halo but am inexplicably better at). We shoveled snow before this, which was less fun, but we made a little sledding hill out of all the snow we shoveled, which was fun.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Perfect laziness

The Best Part of Today #49:
Doing Nothing.

Not entirely true. I did lots of things like play Epic Mickey, do a puzzle, read a book, watch all four hours of the extended Return of The King. All in my pj's. Perfect.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Not so much Peace, but oodles of Joy

The Best Part of Today #48:
Being woken by jingle bells.

Those jingle bells were start of a wonderful day. We got an early start with some very wonderful presents (a 1920 warco typewriter and purse made from a book, for instance) then a very wonderful breakfast. Then the day was flurry of activity preparing for a family meal, ending with Sara and I playing our new games before bed (Epic Mickey for me, and Sims 3 for Sara). I came in here more than an hour ago expressly to post before I went to bed, but was caught up in replying to christmas wishes, which, in itself was a nice blessing.

Merry Christmas everyone, and good wishes to everyone else!
<3

Friday, December 24, 2010

A great day in anticipation of an even better day

The Best Part of Today #47:
Preliminary presents.

It's Christmas freakin' eve everybody! Tomorrow's the big day, the one we've all been waiting for. But today did a pretty good job to ease the anticipation. We made 200+ cookies and exchanged some early Christmas presents with the cousins. All manner of fun preparations took place for tomorrow. Happy Holidays everyone!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

A Happy Mistake

The Best Part of Today #46:
Ordering one item and getting two by accident.

Today was going to be "ordering last minute presents and receiving them in time for Christmas," which did indeed happen today. But then I got another package, with a duplicate of the things I ordered for a friend, Lightsaber Chopsticks. Now as it happens, I wanted these for myself, but I only got one pair for my friend. I checked the tracking information, which clearly states that I was only charged for one pair, and that only package was delivered, but here I am holding 2 pairs of Yoda-stye utensils. What a happy Christmas surprise.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

You have ONLY One Choice...

The Best Part of Today #45:
Watching the Fellowship with the family.

This may not sound at all holiday related, but watching all three Lord of the Rings movies is a cherished Christmas tradition in my family. If the Fellowship is on and my whole family is present, it must mean that it's close to Christmas.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Mmm...

The Best Part of Today #44:
Actually making the first Christmas cookies.

We didn't get around to it yesterday, somehow. But today was a never ending streaming of fattening foods with buttery sugar cookie production sandwiched right in between curly fries and croque monsieurs. Also, greg bought sara and me coldstone. Let the stream of fattening holiday foods begin.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Special Surprise

The Best Part of Today #43:
Getting a special surprise while decorating my mini Christmas tree.

Our advent calendar is a thin, flat piece of wood cut and painted in the shape of a Christmas tree. It has little pegs all over it and 24 little boxes beneath, each with a little wooden charms to decorate the tree with until Christmas. Over the years, we've lost two of the mini ornaments. But today when, I was decorate my mini Christmas tree I found two ornaments that were perfect for the advent calendar!

Also, today my sister and I are going to make the first Christmas cookies.

Friday, December 17, 2010

DFTBA

Wow.

The Best Part of Today [Thursday/Friday] #42:
Awesomeness.

So much of it that it will spill over to Friday's entry too. I kept wanting to post today (meaning Thursday) but too many awesome things kept happening. I aced my last exam, had a good time hanging out with friends in the yearbook office watching funny videos and going to the coop. Then finally got home for winter break! I finally figured out the perfect gift for my sister, and decorated the christmas tree. Then I had S'mores milkshakes with with Carly, one of my favorite people, always. Then I saw Tron at midnight, with another one of my favorite people ever, Pawel, who gave me the best hug ever and the best present ever.

But enough about me, the most important part of this post is promoting the awesomeness of selflessness: charity, specifically Mikey's Way foundation.

You see, (before the Tron event) Carly and I made a video for PROJECT FOR AWESOME. This concerns one of my other favorite people ever, Caity, whose family is at the heart of what Carly and I vlogged about. We talked about how the wonderful foundation Mikey's Way is really important to us, and are going to add it to an collection of people all doing the same thing for charities they love. Show your support by going on youtube tomorrow and searching for all the P4A videos, or click here, to have the awesome Hank Green describe it all to you.

Now listen up people, this part is actually important. LIKE and/or COMMENT on all the the p4a videos that you can so they will be youtube's featured videos instead videos about salsa dancing cats and the current "Rob's new haircut." This is a great way to both promote the numerous causes in people's videos and raise money for them, as they will receive one penny per comment, which can end up to make a huge difference.

go to http://www.projectforawesome.com/ for more information.

DFTBA

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The gift-giving begins

The Best Part of Today #41:
Giving my first Christmas present of the season.

I gave one my friends at school her Christmas present today, my first exchange of holiday happiness of the year. I also ordered my parents Christmas presents online, thinking 10 days in advance would be enough, but apparently there's a chance they might not come in time. Not psyched about that, but it's the thought that counts, not the timeliness of delivery.

1 day until break. The end is near....

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Expecto Patronum to you, exams! I need chocolate...

There is always a reason when I don't post and this time it's exams. I was studying for my Chaucer exam all day yesterday (with two brief interruptions) and did not get to post.

The Best Part of Today [Monday] #40:
Taking two naps.

Technically it's three, if you count the two hours of sleep I got between 3:45 and
5:45 am on Monday morning, followed by an exam, another nap, studying, another nap, and more studying. Sorry this is not very Christmasy. Actually, I have an idea.

The Best Part of Today [Monday] #40.5:
Doing the advent calendar at home, and knowing I'd be home again for good in about 79 hours.

Ok, that's better. Today, I did not fall prey to such nappy foolishness. I took my exam, went to buy more black ink for my printer and finished my entire creative writing portfolio due tomorrow at 6pm. (My formerly new ink cartridge is now half empty.) This is very good, except now I'm trying to make myself do my celtic essay and study for the corresponding final, which also happens to be my last one, and I'm finding i very difficult. I kind of wish the essay was due tomorrow so I'd have a reason to force myself to do it right now. My portfolio is due tomorrow at 6pm, which means I do not have to wake up early tomorrow, which severely cuts down the time during which I will have to study for celtic tomorrow, so I really should do my essay tonight, but I'm procrastinating. That might account for part of the reason why I haven't even gotten the real part of today' post yet...

The Best Part of Today #41:
Peeling my red and green post its from all of my textbooks.

Okay so technically they're neon pink and green, but it still made me excited for break because it means I'm selling my books, which means it's almost the end of the semester when I don't my books anymore. Only two days, folks, two short days...

Friday, December 10, 2010

Christmas preparations abound!

The Best Part of Today #39:
A tree, a nutcracker, and an ugly sweater.

Today I finally got a start on my Christmas shopping, and we got all of our christmas decorations out at home. Tonight I will be seeing a Christmas opera and then going to an christmas themed ugly sweater party. Tomorrow I will be picking out a tree with my family. Christmastime is now in full swing for me, folks.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

The sweet smell of free

The Best Part of Today #38:
Free christmas cookies.

Not just one cookie, and not just one place. It started with lunch at Whitney. By the door there was a huge rectangular bin filled with nothing but cookies. Beside it was a bowl with Christmas colored Kisses. Then after my last publishing class, the professor brought out two boxes of cookies with all different kinds: sugar, and chocolate, and chocolate-covered, and wafer, and pirouette. It would have started with a party in my Chaucer class, but I awoke feeling very ill and didn't feel like eating. In fact, I still haven't eaten the cookies I took from Whitney. But it was still a good day. Plus I'm going home tomorrow to pick out a christmas tree.

7 days till break!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Culture! Here's how to get some....

Greetings everyone. I'm doing something a little different today. I don't want to break my record of 37 straight posts, so we will begin with:

The Best Part of Today #37:
Realizing I was wearing Christmas colors without even planning it.

It's true. I dressed in a green shirt and red shirt completely unintentionally (towards Christmas that is. It was done with the intention of providing optimal warmth on this freezing day.) But it just goes to show how ready for break I am, that I'm preparing for it subconsciously.

With only eight days until break, I wonder if any of us have considered what we are going to do with the time that, unlike Thanksgiving Break, is undisturbed by work. This brings us around to what's different about this post. It's going to be a little longer than usual, so click Read More to find out why...

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Single-Digit Day

The Best Part of Today #36:
Eating red and green M&M's and realizing I only have 6 more school days left.

Technically there are nine days until break, but either way, it's down to the single digits today. I'm not counting the weekend (during which I will be home getting a christmas tree) and Wednesday, on which I do not have an exam. So really there are only 3 more days of classes, and 3 more exams. A rather fitting entry for #36, I think.

Ps. For nerds: The water pipes in my dorm make noises like Valoo roaring. That is all.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Christmas at the Beach

The Best Part of Today #35:
Seeing a white speck flit past my window. Then another.

Wait...is that? It is! Snowflakes! Billions of white flecks slowly grew into a veritable snowstorm, except that it didn't stick to the ground. But walking through it was like walking inside a microscope zoomed in on a gas, molecules zipping every which way.

As the lovely Sara pointed out, we're on two hands for the break countdown. 10 DAYS PEOPLE!

On another note, I made a friend in New Zealand today, also thanks to the lovely Sara. 19 days till Christmas, and they can go to the beach. Crazy stuff.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Soon, so soon

Apologies for not posting Friday, I'll attempt to make up for it now with two awesome parts of the day (and keep it in the holiday spirit, as per the December theme ^_^)

The Best Part of Today #34:
The grass crunching from the frost, I close my eyes and pretend it's snow.

I was walking across the lawn at some point on Friday night and it had the exact same feel as walking through a light, crisp layer of snow. It was certainly cold enough to imagine, so I closed my eyes and keep walking, pretending snow had finally come. It was a nice moment, and I didn't even accidentally walk into the street and get run over.

The actual best part of today, Saturday, was realizing that this is my last Saturday in my dorm room before Christmas break! (Of which there are 12 days until) Technically there is one more weekend separating me from the last week before break, but I will be going to pick out a christmas tree with me family. I can't wait!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

A new theme! Limited time only!

As a way to count down to the big day, all posts in December (up until the 25th) shall be countdowns to the big day. Each post will have something to remind you that the holiday is upon us. Today's post has two such reminders.

The Best Part of Today #33:
Hearing Christmas music in Wilbur Cross as I hung out there waiting for my next class.

A passionate rendition of Silent Night or Jingle Bells might get a little annoying the 37th in December that you'e heard it, but the first time is always nice. That's why it was a pleasant surprise to find that today's Awesome Thing was #361: The first snowfall of the season. These things are all little red flags (and green) signifying that the time in which we will have a short respite from class and work obligations is soon approaching. Keep an eye out for them and it will be here before you know it.

Only 15 days until break!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Let the Christmas Countdown Commence!

The Best Part of Today #32:
Trimming my computer dashboard with Christmas widgets.

Nothing like some computerized decorations to get you into a festive spirit. I don't have any real decorations to adorn my dorm room with, so I settled for my laptop. First, I found some customizable christmas lights that wrap around the edge of the screen. Even though they had a special white and green set with mistletoe, I chose a classic colored strand that twinkles cheerfully. After browsing through many different Christmas countdowns, I settled on a tree that would decorate itself more each day leading up to Christmas, with a little sign telling how many days are left till the grand event. I wanted one that counted down right to the second, but the one I tried before settling on my tree told me that that today, December first, there were 22 days until Christmas. Wishful thinking, but no.

16 days until Break!


Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Grumblies in My Tumbly

The Best Part of Today #31:
Getting a free bagel from a loyalty card.

I've noticed that a bunch of my BPoT's are essentially materialistic, like finding the gift card, and today's free bagel. But who say's there's anything wrong with a little material enjoyment. I'm no puritan. I just say enjoy life, in all its forms.

Plus, this is a fulfillment of Awesome Thing #369: Finally getting something free off your loyalty card (http://bit.ly/bNMBWM). You know, those flimsy little cards that are further mangled by, on average, +/- 10 punches that represent coffees, bagels, scoops of ice cream. But somewhere down the road, you will have involved yourself in a capitalist society enough to merit a reward. Like a free bagel. Hey, we're all a part of it, whether we like it or not. Might as well get the most out of it.

Third reason this was awesome is that, like the gift card, it was unexpected. I have an hour an a half break between two classes in the same building, so I usually hang out in Wilbur Cross, the office building across the street, where I get a coffee and/or a little something for a lunch as I do some extant homework. Today, though, I had no money on me and was just going to sit out the stomach grumblies as I finished up some reading. But then, thinking of all the thing in my id pouch that weren't money, I remembered my newly punched out bagel card, just when I really needed it. Nice.

ps. As the title implies, I am eagerly awaiting the new Winnie the Pooh movie. Are you?
http://bit.ly/hMdr9i

Monday, November 29, 2010

Thirtayy

The Best Part of Today #30:
Finding a $25 dollar gift card to Borders on the ground.

Despite being the first day back at school after Thanksgiving vacation, it was a pretty good day. There were several great things I could picked for today, but the serendipitous discovery of a free gift card to Borders was certainly the most monetarily profitable. I could have been to somewhere totally un-useful to me, like Dick's Sporting Goods or something but no. It was to a bookstore. The only way it could have possibly been more personally suited was if it were to J.Crew or something.
So that was nice. I also went to a great improv show with a friend who introduced me to her attractive friend with a cool name, and saw a couple more friends at the show. Then I watched an episode of Avatar as I unpacked my duffle bag. Not too shabby, day.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Would you look at that

I realized that I posted yesterday, when I normally don't post on weekends. But I guess that's just a product of the following:

The Best Part of Today #29:
Being on vacation long enough that I forget what day it is.

Yesterday was such a fantastic day anyway, that it needed a post. I decided to at least make the weekend symmetrical by posting today as well. Despite just achieving the above realization, it is already time to go back to school. Oh well. Only 3 weeks until month-long Christmas Break! Let the countdown begin!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

This time it was James' fault

Well technically it was the fault of seeing the movie Tangled at 10:20 and not getting back until now. We figured no one would bring their kids at that hour, but we were wrong. Go figure.

The Best Part of Today #28:
Getting my best friend back.

One of them anyway. The one with a y chromosome. The one with two x's has always been there. And so has the other one, I guess, but we both just need to grow up a little, cry a little, laugh to make it better, and change a lot. But not too much. Things are almost the way they almost were, but better.

Friday, November 26, 2010

The Glory of Vacation

The Best Part of Today #27:
An almost pajama day.

After a sleepover in my sister's room, we both woke up at noon and had leftover apple pie for breakfast. The earlier part of the day was taken up by playing toontown and watching a spongebob marathon until about 3 in the afternoon. It would have been a pajama day had I decided to walk my dog in pajamas, but seeing as it was about 38˚, I decided against that plan. I even got some homework in, before watching HP 6 and playing more Toontown. A nice typical vacation day, I would say.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Family Fun with Food

The Best Part of Today #26:
Food.

It was Thanksgiving today, so naturally that meant a lot of food. Turkey and caramelized onions was my favorite, followed closely by green beans and crispy onions. We even played apples to apples with the whole family. Then Sara and I played Toontown, an online game in which you throw pies at cogs; essentially mechanical fun sucking businessmen. All in all, a very fulfilling day.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

It's all Pawel's fault!

So I have an alarm set an everything to remind myself to write in my blog, but here I am, playing Halo and COD with Pawel and he just distracts me from writing in my blog! (With his charm, he says.)

The Best Part of Today #25:
Destroying Pawel at all the games we played!!!!

Ok, so this isn't entirely true. But i still beat him a couple times so that's good enough for me. Plus I stole his mocha at molten java multiple times. FTW.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Yum

The Best Part of Today #24:
Craving chocolate when I was doing hw, and Sara giving me a york peppermint patty.

Chocolate speaks louder than words. That is all.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Magical Discovery!

The Best Part of Today #23:
Deciding not to buy an expensive book, then magically discovering it elsewhere for cheaper.

I decided to buy the majority of my books from my local bookstore. Even though this means I will have to pay a little more because I don't get coupons or promotions at my local bookstore, at least I'm supporting small business instead of huge corporate ones. It's also closer and saves gas. Ironically, I went on errands with my mom after I came back from my bookstore, and she needed to get something at Borders. But after doing our rounds at Borders, Michaels, and T.J Maxx, I sat down to read my new book (Catching Fire, which I had brought with me) inside T.J. Maxx's toy section. It was there, wedged in between Yoga videos and Ni Hao Kai Lan books, I found the third installment of the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay. FTW.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Blame it on Harry Potter

Thursday and Friday were completely consumed by seeing Harry potter at midnight on Thursday Night/Friday Morning. That's why this counts for both days.

The Best Part of Today #21/22:
Having something awesome be even more awesome than you thought.

How could one not be excited about seeing Deathly Hallows Part 1? Exactly. Even if were mediocre, like some of its predecessors, it would still be a momentous experience. My friends an I pondered over where the filmmakers were going to chop it in half. It had to be on something very dramatic and with a cliff hanger quality in order to be effective. But as the film progressed past all of our proposed mid-points, our already bubbling excitement boiled over. The fact that it was the best Harry Potter film yet is a gross understatement. I only hope that it is a trend setter and not just role model for Part 2.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

It's time, it's time!

The Best Part of Today #20:
Seeing the first tree with Christmas lights on it.

It was right next to Starbucks, which was also playing Christmas music today. Poor Thanksgiving. After Halloween, everyone gets into the "Holiday Spirit," of which Thanksgiving is only a stop on the road to something better. I for one am very excited to go home for a long, blissful 10-day week and bake apple pies and have the first fires of the season in the fireplace, and see Harry Potter a bazillion times and play Halo and Call of Duty. Yup. just a nice traditional Thanksgiving.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Curious

I could have sworn I posted yesterday. Apologies.

The Best Part of Today [Monday] #18:
Doing significant work on my novel.

As I mentioned before, I haven't worked on my novel in quite some time. The idea has just been bouncing around in my head. I'd like to say to say it was growing, but not significantly. It just stopped in to say hi occasionally. But yesterday, I did a quantifiable amount work on the first chapter and it felt great. Not to mention, the fact that the assignment itself isn't due until tomorrow, and I was working on it much in advance, as I have not have time for lately. I wrote the whole thing in 3 small 7x5" notebooks, and the first chapter was only 6 of these short pages, and most it was exposition that I have since chosen not to include in the first chapter. Yet, the new draft of the first chapter turned out to be 6 typed manuscript pages. I thought that was funny.

The Best Part of Today #19:
Stella.

This morning my alarm woke me at 8am, despite not having class until 11. I lounged in bed for about an hour and then took a nice long shower. But the nicest thing was deciding to turn on the tv while I got dressed and being spot on time for the beginning of a show I had not seen in very long while. Stella, with David Wain, Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black, is a hilarious show about 3 grown apartment roommates who are always wearing suits. I had not seen since a friend introduced it to me freshman year and it brought a rush of happy nostalgia to my morning.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Macbeth! (you liar...)

The Best Part of Today #17:
Disproving the theatre's Macbeth superstition.

As you may or may not know, it is considered extremely unlucky for someone invoke the name of Shakespeare's scottish king in a theatre while there is a production going. Many believe it cause all sorts of unpleasant circumstances from minor mishaps to near-death catastrophes. Today, however, one of our actors (Ryan Wantroba!) said it not once but twice! We believers were all quite upset with him, except for the fact that the show then went 99.9% perfectly. (Only one dropped line, and switched suitcase account for missing .1%; nothing major.) Not to mention we then ordered chinese food and watched the Princess and the Frog.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, weekend, and overall experience through the whole show of Arsenic and Old Lace, and now that it's over I'm beginning to feel the first pangs of sadness. Fortunately, my excitement for HP7P1 (coming out in 4 days) is doing a good job of masking my sadness for the end of the show.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Potato!

The Best Part of Today #16:
Learning a trick on a rubik's cube.

It was hard for me to not say "everything" as the answer because today was thoroughly fantastic. I had a delicious omelet at Whitney for breakfast. Today's show went splendidly except for the kitchen door flat almost falling down (which was still great because it got the audience to laugh while it was was falling, and then again when they could hear us power screwing it together). We even played monopoly backstage during a slow scene (not slow enough to play a whole game of monopoly, but that't probably for the best). Then we all got dinner together again. Then I went my friend Sara's room and we payed Apples to Apples and complained about how it was only 6:30 but felt like at least 9. After running out of cards, we watched Robin Hood: Men in Tights with tea and popcorn. After that was over we played N64 Super Smash Brother and Mario Kart. Sara yelled "potato!" when she meant to say "tomato" in super smash, and then we watched her abridged version of Lord of the Rings (if you can see the connection between these two statements, you win the awesome prize of nerdiness (no sarcasm whatsoever).) Can you see a way this day could have been better?

Friday, November 12, 2010

Well now, isn't this nice.

Sorry about yesterday. I had to study away the last hours of the day during which time I usually blog. Anyway!

The Best Part of Today (Thursday) #14:
Looking up in the sky and seeing a shooting star that very same moment.

It was beautiful. I was walking back from rehearsal late at night, it was very dark and quiet and the sky was beautifully clear. I spontaneously decided to look up at the sky as I was walking across the green in front of my building and that very moment a meteor streaked across the sky.It wasn't in the corner of my eye but directly above me! It was magical.

The Best Part of Today #15:
[Other than Arsenic opening today and going fantastic,] the fact that our amateur sets which didn't seam together nicely gave me a perfect full-length peep-hole from backstage.

Even though I've seen the action play out at every rehearsal, finally seeing it onstage in front of an audience was so much more wonderful. And our rather precarious sets were somewhat warped from the storage process, putting cracks in between the flats just large enough to see through but not to be seen through. Proof that every mishap in life has a purpose.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Getting rid of brain crack...for real this time

The Best Part of Today #13:
Finally showing my first and most cherished story to a group of constructive peers.

I wrote a story years ago that I am very fond of, but have never been able to force myself to revise, nor have I been bold enough to show to anyone. I did use it twice as a writing sample application though. Once for a writing camp, and the second time, I rewrote the beginning and submitted it in order to get into my creative class. But i have never told anyone about it and asked for suggestions and criticism, until today. I turned very red and started sweating profusely as I tried to summarize the story and failing miserably. But it got better as the members of my peer group asked me questions about things I had left out, allowing me to focus on certain I had already figured out, rather trying to present a cohesive picture in one go. It was very nerve-wracking, but ultimately fruit-bearing as well.

fo find out what brain crack is, and how it is relevant and not completely random, click below:
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/07/071106.html

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

No dear, this makes twelve!

The Best Part of Today #12:
Free books.

Plain and simple. Nothing better than free books. A whole box of them. And the box was addressed to one of my other favorite teachers, besides the one who was giving me the books. Proof that good people know each other.

Arsenic and Old Lace opens in 3 days...so excited!!!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Just Kidding

The Best Part of Today #11:
Waking up to a window bright with reflected light.

Yup, you guessed it (and if you didn't, no worries, because I'm about to tell you.) I wondered why it was so bright when I woke up this morning, especially since the weather forecast had called for clouds and a rainy, "wintry mix." As if playing a joke on us, or more specifically weathermen, Storrs, CT was sugared with snow instead of slathered with slush. It was a two-part joke though, as the fluffy white sheen was soon transmuted into a muddy gray mush, fulfilling the earlier promise for rain. But it wasn't all bad. Before going in to work I normally nab a coffee from the starbucks across and down the street from my office to stave off the 2pm snoozies, but I didn't want to have travel any more than was necessary today. While I was there, I remembered seeing a coffee pot in one of the green room cupboards by the sink and the mini-fridge. For a while, I was too enmired in work to get away and substantiate my remembrance, but when I finally found time to explore, I discovered the pot out on the counter with a full pot already made! It was almost too good to be true when I found an eeyore-shaped mug in the cupboard and half-and-half in the fridge. It would have been too much if the fortuitous circumstances fell cruelly short to only almost everything I needed for my perfect cup of coffee, but I even found two real sugars concealed by heaps of splenda and equal packets. And it didn't cost me a dime.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Saving the Day

The Best Part of Today Number #10:
Wondering why my alarm didn't wake me up and realizing I was actually an hour ahead of it.

Daylight savings...why couldn't this happen every day? Discovering that I miraculously gained another hour before rehearsal this morning was nothing short of phenomenal. I was able to slowly enjoy my breakfast and even get some work done. Imagine that.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the world together

Part of the reason I joined Dramatic Paws was because I missed theatre from high school, and everything it entailed. Part of the production of it all was the building and painting of the sets, and I finally got a chance to do it today for the first time in years. Of course, no day of improvised student-run construction would be complete without a few accidental injuries.

The Best Part of Today #9:
Making improvised band-aids out of duct tape.

As Chris, one of our directors, aptly stated "Necessity is the mother of invention." This pertained to more than just my makeshift paper "tape measure" (part of the...charm, let's say, of a student run organization is the lack of professional materials, and the necessity to improvise). I impaled my left little finger on a rogue screw and sliced my right thumb on a paint container, and was sadly wanting of bandaids. Luckily I remembered from my high school techie days that duct creates an even better seal than a real bandaid. That way, when I finally arrived at rehearsal and a cast member asked me how it went, I was able to give a duct-taped thumb's up that carried everything I needed to say.

Friday, November 5, 2010

What smurfs and candy companies have in common

With halloween just past and we're all delving into our acquired candy hoardes, I'm sure some of have been pondering the thus-far unanswered question about blue raspberry flavored candy. The candy companies must have known that by now everyone has seen through their clever ruse: the blue raspberry is not a fruit! Certainly blackberries closely resemble raspberries and have slightly darker shade of violet-blue than blueberries, but nothing comes close to the electric blue of the so called "Blue Razzberry."

That's why The Best Part of Today #8 is
finding out what smurfs are good for.

You heard me right. Smurfs. Those tart little blue imps that are actually about the size of large blackberries. What do you think happened to them after the 80's (Boomerang reruns not included.) They had to go somewhere, as a friend of mine decided after my ingestion of a large blue razzberry lollipop that left my mouth "smurf blue."

Unfortunately, Smurfs fell under the protection of S.P.E.W and could no longer be used to make delicious blue treats, so candy companies had to resort to the use of Rubus Leucodermis, or the Whitebark Raspberrry, later known as the "Blue Raspberry" for its associations with the previously smurf-produced flavor.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

That's the best oily pelican I've ever seen...

Best Part of Today #7:
Being told I make an awesome oily pelican.

Today after Arsenic and Old Lace rehearsal got out early, one of my friends in the cast invited me to Agents of Improv. I'd been meaning to go for as long as I had been meaning to join Dramatic paws (basically since freshman year). I had homework I could do, but it wasn't due tomorrow, so I couldn't resist. It was one of the singularly most fantastic nights of my life. (This post still counts for Thursday because I didn't get back to my room until after it was Friday!) It was also the first time I had ever played long form improv and our team ended up being called Team Oily Pelican. The game necessitated interruptions based on the nature of our team name, and well...I went with it.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Your order had dispatched!

The Best Part of Today #6:
Buying a book from my favorite author in the world off Amazon. co.uk

Ok, so I haven't bought it yet. But I fully intend to, so it makes no difference what tense I use. There is perhaps nothing I would like to do more than buy this book, especially since it is currently in my "basket" (not cart) and will be "dispatched" (rather than shipped) as soon as I order it. I say words like cart and shipped with the same nasally, displeased tone that my high school french teacher would use to say words like celebration instead the nicer-sounding congreg-ah-see-ohn. But unfortunately I must save my presently dismal funds for other matters.

And, in fact, there is something I would like to do more than buy the book: enter the sleuthing contest to win the first ever signed copy of the book. Unfortunately I'll have to make do with the joys of european amazon, because the contest is only open to the UK.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Awesome x3

I missed Friday and Monday. But it wasn't my fault I swear! CarlyJanee Davino, one of my favorite people ever, came up to visit me at Uconn on Friday and then we went to Boston see my other favorite people ever, James Traggianese and Caity Booton. So that was great. But...

The Best Part of {Friday}:
Finding out I was in a secret club I didn't know about.

Carly, our friend Molly and I, spent our Friday sitting on the floor of Uconn bookstore's young adult section because 1) were nerds (the best kind) and 2) Carly introduced me to the world of Nerdfighteria and I found a Nerdfighter note in my new Paper Towns book! If you want to understand what I'm actually talking about, go to youtube.com/vlogbrothers.


The Best Part of {Monday}:
Classical Music playing and knowing what piece it is.

The other best part of Monday was not having any classes and still being Boston. Caity and I had breakfast at an Au Bon Pain and they were playing classical music! Ok, so I know that I said the best part of Tuesday was hearing the LOTR score in Whitney, but I didn't officially start TBPoT until Wednesday so it doesn't count! The funny thing is, I was so excited about the music as ABP because I knew the piece, but now I'm sure because I can't remember exactly. The quandaries of not posting on time, it is!


The Best Part of Today (finally):
Being told a weird quirk you have is actually a career asset.

Today I had an interview for a class which would entail working on the editorial staff of the Long River Review, Uconn's literary magazine. While explaining my copy editing experience to the interviewer, Penelope Pelizzon, exclaimed that it sounded like I could copy edit in my sleep! After a moment's hesitation I told her about the journal where I record spelling and grammatical errors I find in published works. I didn't know if this would be seen as a pretentious half-truth or just dismissed as worthless, as no publishing house would reprint a novel because it spelled "sen" instead of "seen" (page 88 of The Time Garden by Edward Eager.) But then Ms. Pelizzon laughed and said "You're Long River dream editor. I'm sure we'll have a place for you." Results posted next week - I'll let you know.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Victory!

Best Part of Today #2:
Being able to take part in trick or treating after thinking I wasn't going to.

During my hour and a half break between classes today, I decided to go to the Student Union, where Trick or Treating was going on. I was very excited about this because I'm not going to be going trick or treating on Halloween. Like last year, one of very best friends and I are dressing up to traipse around Salem, MA, where, extremely surprisingly, there is no traditional trick or treating. (That's why the candy stores do so well.) In what then seemed a sad trick of fate, I found out that you needed a special Union bag in order to receive treats, and there were no more. I was close to despair when I started noticing all the people sitting around with stuffed candy bags. They got their candy, I thought, so they don't need to bags anymore! I looked for someone with a backpack or somewhere else to put their horde, and settled upon a girl with a particularly large purse (which wasn't too hard to find), and, after explaining the situation to her, asked her if I could use her bag if she was done with it. Happily, she seemed to understand my plea very well and was more than willing to bequeath her bag unto me.
TIME FOR FREE CANDY!! (the very best kind)

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Best Part of Today

Hopefully this will become a new routine for me. Inspired by one of my favorite blogs, 1000AwesomeThings.com, I've decided to post what I think is the best part of the past day. It started with hearing the Lord of the Rings score playing in the Whitney Dining hall at Uconn yesterday morning, which I quite enjoyed as opposed to the normal regimen of pop radio music that blares over the speakers. I decided to IM the InstantDaily, a list of im's to Uconn's newspaper, the Daily Campus, saying that was the best part of my day. The today I had another thought with the same heading, so here goes:

The Best Part of Today:
Walking to and from class barefoot.

People were already staring at me because of the frilly sky-and-royal blue dress (http://bit.ly/d8COZO) I was wearing for the Dramatic PAWS dance I was headed to before class, but my adorable blue shoes are more sinister than they look, and delved into their malicious side by ferociously gnawing at the tender skin right above my big toe and the back of my ankle. So, I went barefoot. It was 70˚ and had just rained so the slick grass and smooth pavement beneath my feet was quite refreshing. Plus apparently walking barefoot is good for you mitochondria, according to the Discovery channel show "Dual Survival." Nice job mitochondria, you got a good workout today. (http://bit.ly/aSD7kN)

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

September: Day 1. School: Day 3.

I'm very excited about this year. The past two yeas have nice in their own different ways, but never before have I liked so many aspects of the school year to come. I love my roommate who was assigned randomly to me. We already get along so well, my only fear is the as-of-yet unknown degree to which I will lose the enjoyment of her company once she gets in a sorority and makes more friends than just me and our mutual new friend from down the hall. I also love all of my classes, which are finally all English classes (except Literary Journalism, but it is in the same spirit as all of my other classes). However it is only the first week, and the combined reading load is already somewhat daunting. And though I have been promoted and given a raise at my job which I already love, I start working next, and am unsure whether I can successfully juggle them all. I am plagued by doubts that next week, and the weeks to come, will not be as truly wonderful as this first one has been. Curiously, I have been getting a lot of things that I was secretly wishing for in my mind, all in such a short span of one another as to inspire a pattern. First, I was wishing that I would make some new friends in my Chaucer class, which seemed full of terrifically fascinating people from the customary first day introductions I was hearing. Particularly, I made a vow that after class I would speak to the boy who sad he had gone to the same anime convention as I had over the summer, and then I thought "Wouldn't it be cool if he were as interested in me as I was in him?" Sure enough, he came right over to me and asked if I wanted to switch emails. Some 15 minutes after this class I had another class on the same floor of the building I was in, and thought "Wouldn't it be great if her were in my Celtic and Norse Myth and Legend class too?" When we decided to swap schedules in the intervening 15 minutes we shared before our next respective classes, I was thrilled to see that we shared the class as well! I was really quite astounded with my luck as we sat down together next the door of our next class and struck up a conversation with the girl across from us right away, who had asked us if we were indeed waiting for the celtic class, when another friend of mine came and sat down right now me, joyously proclaiming she joining our quickly growing group. And that wasn't the last of my serendipitous experiences that day. I can only hope that going home the 1st weekend of school for the annual Mark Twain Library book fair, a tradition I would be very disappointed to miss, will not damage what has become a more-than-pleasant routine for me.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Girrrrls and Boooyyys in Draaamaaa (we're not all old enough for Caaaarrrrs yet)

What is it about girls that makes them so complicated? Guys are so simple (sometimes to the point of stupidity in some cases (through girl eyes, of course), but in others it just makes things easier. You have a beef with someone, and you go right up them and have a "WTF?" headbutting confrontation, and you either resolve to get over it and be buds again, or to just part ways, live and let live. But girls...no, with girls everything is drawn out, micro analyzed. You can't tell someone to their face if you have a problem, you just complain to your friends about, and through friends of her friends of your friends, you find out much later, after a period of time in which you thought you were still friends. Then you talk about it to your friends, and if you ever get up the guts to face her, she blows you off. Is it something in our biology that necessitates the generation of meaningless drama?

Drama, that's where it all started for me. Most of my friends now are my friends from high school, and most of those friends were from being in theatre. Is it just me, and my groups of friends ("friends") being in theatre that makes us this way, or are all girls like this? Sometimes, I wish I could just be a guy for a couple days or so, just to see what it's like. Or read peoples minds. Either one.

Friday, August 20, 2010

I compose a masterpiece (well really just it's title, to begin with)

It's funny how people affect our lives in the smallest ways. For the past several years of my computing life, I have uses variations of the same username, chiohchan, for pretty much everything. But while logging into to my Toontown account (yes, you read that right, and no I'm not under the age of 12) I realized I have my sister's boyfriend to thank for breaking me out of that potentially unsafe habit. Him and his xbox, that is. During the school year, my sister and her boyfriend Greg both attend the same college and work at the same place, only about 10 minutes away from our house, but about an hour and a half from Greg. This summer, Greg came to stay at our house because of a summer class, and he brought his xbox with him. It was on this xbox that I honed my skills at Halo and Call of Duty. But on these games, you are not yourself: greg is gdrums, my sister sara: saraflute, and I...well I was myself, for lack of a better idea. I'm not a music major like my two fellow gamers, but rather an English major. So what then, would be my substitute title? What is my instrument? I didn't want to use chiohchan again, and that got me to thinking about all the technology in my life that required passwords, and then about technology in general. You see, being an english major, I loooove books. But the paper and ink kind, not the pixels and LED bulb kind. I have nothing against machines like the kindel or the iPad, I just resent the self-important technology freaks who say it will replace books. It was then that I smiled. I became ebooks7. Not electronic books, but eliza's books. And a 7 for luck. Luck that I'll need to protect my instrument from the digital age.

0500 hours

Woke up at 5 am this morning. Not sure if that's a good thing if it was induced by waking from a cold sweat, going back to bed, and then needing pay another visit to the bathroom, going back to bed, and then deciding the hell. Normally I like the early morning when I wake up naturally as opposed to having to drag myself out of bed for some early event. Problem, was it wasn't a natural, well-rested awakening. We'll see how this bodes later in the day. Milk was a good choice today. Especially with Cheerios and Granola.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Go figure.

I got them all right yet was somehow missing 5%. Was it my attitude?

The Twitter Spelling Test

Created by Oatmeal

Just your average Thursday...

We bought a car today. Don't take my nonchalant tone to be that of a spoiled brat with 3 (now 4 Bmw's to match my silver Fendi purses. I don't even own my own car cuz I share with my mom. But our family also had an elderly Ford, and my parents decided it would be a prudent investment to get a new car. Well, new to us. It's actually from 2002. But it still feels new to me. It was a really good price, for a car. But still a lot of money. My mom has had "buyer's remorse" all day today and it makes me really sad. The source of this distress? $$$. Those small symbols ruin everything. And I'm not so sure that having it is better than not having it.
Another one of my problems is: I get really attached to things. I like my current car. It's a silver Volvo S70 named Norbert Edward. He's the car I learned to drive on; am still learning to drive on. I just finally got my dad to let me put a couple stickers on it: Uconn; my college, Smith; my last name; a Danish flag for my heritage, and bone shaped magnet from sister with "I love my cairn terrier." He has scrape on his left bumper from when I backed up into my improv teacher's bug. He has a Mickey Mouse/Jack Sparrow antenna topper from disney world, sitting inside the compartment btwn the two front seats so I see it whenever I take my ipod out, but won't get lost or stolen being attached to an external part of the car. I finally got all the 6 buttons on the radio programmed to my favorite [classical music] stations. (Other music is hat the ipod is for. But Norbert is still older than Percy, the name my mom chose for the CR-V which I liked because of Percy Jackson. And they're just cars. So why am I feeling so sentimental?


Thursday, August 12, 2010

How to be Smart: And Idiot's Guide to Intelligence

You know, come to think of it, a lot of being right is not actually being right. A lot of it is sounding right. I know, I know, this sounds really egotistical. But the way I see it is that you can be three things: be right, sound right, or be wrong. Sometimes when you know the answer, you just know. And that's being right. It's same with being wrong. I won't go into be right or wrong by accident because the only thing that matters is what you think, and if you think you're wrong, even if you're not, you're still doubting yourself and it makes you sound wrong. Sounding is different. It's more like a promise. When you want to convince someone of something, but you're not sure of your facts, the most important thing is to sound right at the time so you get the point across, but you make a secret promise to find out later if you actually are. If you were in fact right, then congratulations, you saved yourself from having to deal with the other person's doubts that sprang your own. If you're not, it's up to you whether or not you want to bring it up again. If it's a slight alteration of the truth, it may not matter, like if the earth is 12 or 13 billion lightyears from some other celestial body. But if it's something that will have serious repercussions because of your error, it will only make you look stupid to ignore. The smartest to do is alert the person of the truth with the most grace as possible. Because certain things go together. Intelligence and grace. Ignorance; almost synonymous with idiocy. Don't be an idiot. Look the part. Be the part.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Make your own ipod case!

Hello and and welcome back...to myself. Unfortunately I can't explain away the 7 month hiatus between this and my last post, but sometimes that's just the way some things are. I suppose I have Apple, their ridiculous prices, and my mother to thank for this, which will shortly become and Instructables-like post. To explain: I just recently caved into popular consumer culture and purchased a macbook pro to replace my 2nd withering Dell. I received a free ipod touch with it, but the package was still enormously expensive. I started looking into cases for both of the latter in order to protect my investment, but my investment was such that I do not feel comfortable enough with my current funds that I am willing to shell out another wad of cash to meet their outrageously priced protective equipment. While scouring the internets for cheaper options, my mother scoffed at the necessity and told me to make my own out of "duct tape or something," citing as her examples some of the amazing innovations people have done (wallets, dresses, etc) with the wonderful aforementioned tape. Though she was joking, she planted the seed of a brilliant idea in the mind of one tired of seeking other people's creativity. Why not have a customizable case? I immediately applied myself to Amazon's wares and found exactly what I was looking for: a perfectly clear $2 ipod case (free shipping for students ^_^). Here's where the instructions comes in:
Instead of buying a case you like with a cool design, simply print out a picture of it and affix under the clear case and voila! Instant (and protected) design for your ipod! You can put virtually anything cool and ipod-sized in there! I reccommed:
-decorated business cards
-cool clothing tags
-unique playing cards
-embellished bookmarks
-funny nametags (i.e. Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father...)
-your favorite movie tickets
-exotic candy wrappers

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Just a Feeling

I've never considered myself very good at describing movies in a way that sounds intriguing, which is quite a misfortune for someone who loves movies more than any other form of electronic entertainment. Usually I just babble out a botched up summary making the film in question sound confusing or absurd, and provide the opposite effect than I was hoping to inspire. However, I'm going to give a shot here, in the hope that, given the time to organize my thought will make it better. At least, better than the fragmented description I gave to my roommate when trying to tell her why V for Vendetta is really quite an excellent film, and why we should choose for our little movie night. Unfortunately, another friend needed her this evening, but I was set on watching it myself. And over the course of the viewing I realized that it was more than just a "good movie" that I like because of the plot or the actors. Perhaps it's a product of having just watched it after completing my reading assignment for film class, but I don't mind.

It began when I saw a particularly interesting shot of the title character V, played by Hugo Weaving (Mr. Smith, The Matrix), jumping over the slanted roof of the apartment he was about to break into, and I suddenly got the idea to take a screenshot of it, now that I had that feature on my revamped pc. I observed the still frame in a way that I had never really considered before; no doubt I had been concerned with keeping up with the story. But I find that seeing a movie, much like reading a book, again and again is always a fruitful experience because each time you allow yourself to notice more and more, because you already know so well everything on the surface. It was quite a "visually stimulating" image, and as I looked for more of them, I found them. It was somewhat surprising because I had always liked V for Vendetta but had never really considered a piece of cinematic art; more just an enjoyable blockbuster. Though one is required to sit through some scenes of mildly gruesome bloody scenes, a la Wachowski brothers, it is full of little details that really make you think about how hard they must have worked to make this a spectacular movie. It's filled with pithy axioms, some that sound as though they were designed for teenage boys to scratch into desks and write in library books like "ideas are bulletproof," but also gentler ones like "An inch, it is small and it is fragile and it is the only thing in the world worth having." I like this one for many reasons, one somewhat silly: as the speaker was born and raised in england, why would she be thinking in inches and not centimeters. But I digress, and also don't mean to detract from it's poignancy. I understand it as the one little part of yourself that you never give up to anyone, even in the face of death.

There are numerous instances of ideas about rebirth sprinkled throughout the movie, and is indeed what the movie itself culminates in. The main characters, Evey (Natalie Portman) and V share many parallels, particularly their "rebirth scenes." V suffered a tragic fate in a biological weapon testing facility, which he escapes from in a fire on the November 5th, the day of the Gunpowder plot. He recreates the experience, dehumanization and all, for Evey who in turn loses all of her fear and faces what she believes to be her death with inner calm. It is completed with V taking her up out of his underground lair to a high balcony and she experiences her rebirth in the rain instead of fire, with the same gestures as V. Raising her arm to storm-filled sky a lightning bolt slashes down before her, and it looks as though she has mastered not just her inner self but the outer world as well. Another beautiful image, coupled with my other favorite; a shot from her with the rain falling and making circles on the wet ground below her. There are numerous other perfectly set up shots, some that last for only an instant, like a rare and beautiful but ephemeral flower. In short, it's full of beautiful photography.

Ironically, Evey and V, what with all of their religious allusions, are rebelling against an extremist religious government, whose very slogan is "Strength through unity; unity through faith" and whose symbol is cross with two crosspieces across the main beam. It's as if the British Government under High Chancellor Sutler are placing their authority only one level below the divine, a less than subtle idea that glares at you from the insidious black and red colors of the symbol itself. Even more ironic still, is that extremist religious groups, with the belief that they are moving ever more towards the will of God, in truth are moving farther and farther away from what their holy texts say. But that is a battle I won't wage here.

Finally, at the end of the movie, V reveals he intends to blow up Parliament with vast quantities of "British Fertiliser" and other household chemicals. Though I dislike the destruction of historical monuments as a matter of principal, the idea that a corrupt government must answer for its crimes, reap what it sows, at the hands of fertiliser...that's what movies are made of.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Blog on Paper #1

Sometimes I wish I grew up in a time before Television, movies, video games and all those things so that I could have been one of those kids always surrounded by Matilda-size stacks of books who did nothing but climb trees and read. Even as I reconcile myself with the growing place of technology in the world, good old paper books will always hold a unique place in my heart and head. What immediately comes to mind is a book vs DVD scenario. Don't get me wrong, I love movies and have a prodigious DVD collection myself, but consider this situation. If someone gives you a book, you can start reading it the moment it crosses your palm. Not very polite, but possible. If someone gives you a DVD, that gives you the opportunity to be a little more sociable because reading the back of the case isn't going to take long, and your not likely to open it and stare at the disc. To do what DVDs are meant to do, you need to go somewhere, find a DVD player and Television set, and electricity. Obviously, to have all of these things you must first have purchased them, and to do that you needed to have a substantial amount of money before you were even given the gift in question. Now while someone may give you a book, which you can enjoy even if you are homeless, the average-joe friend is not likely to buy you a home, an television, a DVD player, and pay your electricity bill in addition to a single DVD. At least books will have a future in economical gift options. Sad as it is, if books are to become novelties suitable only for present presenting in order to survive, I would take it, anything, over their total extinction.

On the Contrary Watson

Oftentimes I experiences what i think are particulary verbose trains of thought and wish to write them down so I can read them over and think about them later. These spells have resulted in many scraps of paper with such thoughts scrawled hastily on them, similar scrawls in a mini notebook i keep in my purse for whenever i need to write directions, grocery lists, and whatever else merits scrawling, and also a Microsoft Word folder labeled simply "Thoughts." But aside from thinking about them, I never had any other real purpose for them. So I guess that's what this blog is about now. It sounds pretty simplistic, of course; all blogs are about the writer's thoughts. I guess what I'm trying to say is that my posts aren't going to be plain everyday thoughts; thusly I will not post everyday, because I do not have the type of Thoughts I'm referring to now every day. If that makes no sense, just don't worry about.

An interesting thing I've discovered about this blog is that it has actually increased my writing in my diary. It's ironic because I started it as an alternate method of writing, like my diary but on th computer, because I've often found I type faster than I write by hand. Yet, i do not control when I have the abovementioned Thoughts, and twice now I've been in bed, eyes closed, lights off, and suddenly feel the need to write down what I'm thinking, but don't feel like getting out of bed to find my computer, wait for it to turn on, get on the internet, etc etc. So I just get out my diary, always above my headboard next to a tin of pens reserved for that purpose, and begin to write. I've decided to log these entries in here after the fact.

Distracted by dog trials now (damn you television!), so I'm ending this post before it becomes even more confusing.